- all calls to 911 went unanswered.

Four Four bandits invaded a Herstelling home early yesterday morning and carted off a number of household items valued some $700,000 after which they were apprehended by the police and placed in custody.

When Stabroek News visited the 178 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara home yesterday, its occupants explained that the bandits; two men and two women gained entry to the two-flat house by removing some louvre panes.

Two men and two women gained entry to the two-flat house by removing some louvre panes.

Zahira Mangar, one of the occupants of the house told Stabroek News that she had gotten out of bed around 2:30 am for a washroom break when she encountered the bandits in the bottom flat of the house.

Mangar said that prior to waking up she heard no unusual sounds that suggested that thieves were in the building. She said that upon seeing the bandits she called out for her uncle; Zaman Ali who is the owner of the house and had been sleeping in the upper flat at the time.

Once an alarm was made Mangar said that the bandits who were unarmed and unmasked apparently became confused and instead of running out of the house, they ran upstairs where they were then confronted by Ali who drew his cutlass causing them to head through the window from which they had gained entry.

Cutlass

Bandits chased off with cutlass

Both Ali and Mangar said that the thieves were apparently in the house for about an hour or two before they were seen since quite a number of items were already packed into several parcels to be shipped out.

Mangar said that the perpetrators had apparently already made several trips removing items from the house while the family was asleep. She said that apart from the parcels packed away by the four for removal, they had already removed a television, a video cassette recorder (VCR), two DVD players, a cell phone and charger, a microwave and a music set.

The owner of the house said that the bandits had been loading the items removed from the house into a waiting minibus that was parked on the corner with two lookouts. Ali said that after chasing the burglars with his cutlass, he raised an alarm and residents in the area got up and joined in the chase, they however made good their escape in the waiting mini bus identified by number plate BHH 9092.

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According to residents and the owner of the house, the bandits are no strangers since they reside in Herstelling. Residents explained that the four had moved into the neighbourhood sometime now and have been occupying an abandoned house located two streets away from where the robbery took place.

Voicing their concerns, the angry residents said that the said group of robbers had been identified as being responsible for a number of robberies that had taken place over the past week.

The neighbours said that they have no clue as to where the quartet came from and who authorised them to occupy the house. One person did point out however, that one of the two men is known by the call name `Bubble Up.’

Meanwhile, Mangar and residents are furious over what they described as a lack of professionalism and urgency in the way the police at the Providence police station handled their emergency. Mangar said that the police came some two hours after the incident; in spite of the fact that immediate calls were made and that the station is a stone’s throw away.

According to Mangar, when she called the Providence Police Station, she was told by the police on duty that they had no vehicle and as a result could not assist them immediately. She said also that she was told by the said police officer that the CID rank stationed at Providence at the time was asleep. They noted also that all calls to 911 went unanswered.

One neighbour pointed out that it was not until he took the phone from Mangar and threatened to call Police Headquarters that the police told them he was going to “wake up the CID from his slumber.”

Once the police had arrived some three hours later residents said that they took them to the abandoned house. After conducting searches, the robbers were found in the said abandoned house. A male and a female were found hiding in a bedroom and the other two were found hiding in the ceiling. The latter two told the police that they were in the ceiling because they wanted to clean it of some dust.

The residents posited that the bandits probably went back to the abandoned house some hours after the incident since they [the bandits] would have thought that that was the most unlikely place for the police to search.

“We know for sure dat dey din go back to de abandoned house immediately after we chase them cause dey drive off in de direction of Timehri,” one resident pointed out.

The search of the abandoned house by the police according to Mangar, Ali and the residents; unearthed quite a number of items other persons had been robbed of over the past week. None of the items stolen from Ali’s house was however recovered.

Ali and Mangar were grateful that no one was hurt including two children who were in the house at the time of the ordeal which lasted for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, residents have expressed their concern over the fact that the street lights in the area are not in working order, this they said is a major contributing factor to robberies.